A free press is lacking

Maybe it’s because I was a cub reporter for my hometown daily newspaper before I even graduated from high school, but I have always been an enthusiastic advocate of our American free press.

Unfortunately, these days I’m in the minority. In 2014, it appears few Americans under the age of 60, including our current president, even know the definition of the term “free press.”

Just so we’re all on the same page, freedom of the press is guaranteed in the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution. What it means, in 21st century language, is that the government (White House, House of Representatives, Senate, and Supreme Court) cannot in any way restrict the freedom of the media to investigate and report the news. Modern courts have held that this includes interviewing whomever they choose and photographing events as they happen.

Despite this, the current administration has long exercised almost a stranglehold on the mainstream media even though such suppression has never been necessary. The majority of the media are liberals and absolutely sycophantic in their adoration of Barack Obama and his entire White House entourage.

From the New York Times to local network television stations coast to coast, all have virtually ignored several major scandals occurring within the Obama administration.

The needless deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, the deplorable lack of care in our VA medical system, the IRS targeting of conservative organizations, and the NSA spying on average citizens are all sordid and very likely criminal activities, yet they have been dubbed “phony scandals” by President Obama, and thus, by the left-leaning press.

Finally, much to the dismay of the president and his back-pocket media, each of these scandals has been found to be, not only real, but also much worse than anyone expected. Still the president is continuing to ignore them all, and the majority media are obediently doing the same.

Enter the next scandal. More than 52,000 unaccompanied children from Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatamala have poured across our southern border in the last couple of months in direct response to the president’s unilateral decision to offer them immunity from deportation. He did so because Congress refused to approve the move, knowing it would cause just such an invasion.

Mr. Obama also knew that invasion would happen, and he wanted it to. In fact, several months ago he began advertising for “chaperones” to accompany them as they are dispersed across our country.

Why did he want the children here? Because he knew many of them would be teenagers within a few years of voting age, and thus, a built-in new constituency predisposed to vote for immigration reform and anything else their “savior” wants.

Meanwhile, that savior, President Obama, is too busy raising money for the Democratic Party to even visit the overcrowded, makeshift centers where the children are being held. In addition, he has issued an edict to our “free” press prohibiting them from interviewing or photographing the children because, according to Obama’s press secretary, the “optics” of the situation are not favorable.

Yes, that’s correct. One more time, our president has chosen to ignore the constitution, trampling our rights. And, as usual, he’s doing it with impunity.

After all, the people who are supposed to stop such executive overreach are the very press he is ordering to back off. And since the majority of them are loyal, lap-dog Democrats, they knuckle under. The few who dare object are barely a spit in the wind.

If our president has carte blanche to issue a hands-off order stifling our free press, who’s next?